display

One of the hottest products in consumer electronics is finally cooling off.

A report released Tuesday confirms that flat-panel television shipments to retailers are beginning to tail off. Specifically, LCD and plasma TV shipment grew just 21 percent, and 20 percent, respectively year over year during the third quarter of 2008, according to DisplaySearch's Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report.

That's by far the most meager growth for this category in the past two years. The previous six quarters' growth have all exceeded 41 percent compared to the previous year.

We're on the brink of a … Read more

Yahoo has named a former MSN executive to head its media operations, as its former media executive Scott Moore exits.

Jeff Dossett, former MSN Media Network executive producer and general manager, has joined Yahoo as senior vice president of U.S. Audience. He will oversee the company's media properties from Yahoo Finance to Yahoo News, the company said Monday.

Dossett, who will report to Hilary Schneider, executive vice president of Yahoo U.S., is replacing Scott Moore, also a former MSN executive.

Moore, who joined Yahoo back in 2005 after serving as general manager of MSNBC.com, is leaving … Read more

Online advertising is expected to take a steeper hit than previously expected, but some sectors within the industry may feel the pain less than others, according to two separate reports released Monday.

Online advertising worldwide is now expected to grow at a slower rate of 25 percent this year compared with earlier projections of 28 percent, according to a research note by JPMorgan analyst Imran Khan. The situation for next year is also expected to deteriorate further than previously expected, with 13 percent growth compared with an earlier forecast of 19 percent growth.

Said Khan in his research note:

Overall … Read more

A Taiwanese display maker just one-upped Sony on the Japanese electronics giant's home turf.

At the FPD International Exhibition in Japan Wednesday, Chi Mei EL, or CMEL, unveiled its OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display that measures less than a millimeter thick and 25 inches diagonal. Sony has a prototype of the same thinness, but it's just 11 inches diagonal.

CMEL's prototype display resolution is WXGA, or 1,366x768 pixels, and shows 16.7 million colors. While it's not yet an actual product, it shows that the race for OLED supremacy is heating up.

Samsung has shown … Read more

All of the monitors I've reviewed at CNET are consumer-level designs. One of the reasons for this is that professional-level monitors have a limited audience because of their expense.

NEC is seeking to change that, somewhat. On Friday, NEC announced the 22-inch P221W LCD monitor. This is being targeted at professionals who need to work in color-critical environments, but don't want to break the bank. You'll have to be the judge--for now--on whether $637 is "breaking the bank".

NEC's supplied features for the display include:

This week we get started with a very heartwarming and inspiring tale of Dong and and his little sisters as they traversed miles and miles to reach slave mines in Vietnam 27 years ago.

Then we learn a bit about monitor panel technology and why your monitor vendor doesn't want you to know what kind of panel is in your display.

Here's a very useful site for figuring out what time of panel is in your display.

After that, it's fun with system glut! Dong gives us some tips on how to best alleviate new system lag. … Read more

SAN DIEGO--Two very different companies are developing ways to track energy usage in homes equipped with solar panels.

SolarCity, a company that leases solar panels to households, introduced on Wednesday a new version of its SolarGuard software that displays panels' production alongside a home's electricity usage.

In many states, people pay a higher rate for electricity during peak times in the middle of the day and early evening. By tracking usage--and solar panels' production--people can decide to run a washing machine at night, for example.

"The biggest energy-efficiency challenge in every house is not changing light bulbs. It'… Read more

I couldn't be at the Tuesday morning Apple launch event for the new MacBook and MacBook Pro systems, but I've had a chance to review the announcements.

Normally I focus on the technology in new products, but this time, I have to say my first impression is dominated by the appearance of these systems. These are some good-looking laptops.

The most dramatic change is the new display surround, black glass that goes right out to the edge of the upper case just like on an iPhone. The lower case also looks significantly cleaner now that the old gray … Read more

The spotlight may have been on MacBooks at Tuesday's Apple press conference, but there was one other product on the stage: Apple's new 24-inch Cinema Display.

Admittedly, a monitor is hardly as exciting as an aluminum MacBook, but I do find myself intrigued. The 24-inch display is Apple's first with LED backlighting, which is not only thinner but also reportedly produces more accurate colors while using less energy than traditional monitors. It incorporates an iSight camera, built-in microphone, and speakers. And it includes a second cable at the rear of the display with branches for a MagSafe … Read more